iRobot - Roomba 694

If it's just one room, get one of the old random bounce around Roombas with the bristle roller. 500 or 600 series. They're great at picking up litter and combing embedded pet hair out of carpet. I have a 692 I keep just for that. They're also super cheap because everyone wants the self-emptying models now. I see the older ones pretty often at thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace for under $30.

I have three shorthair cats and live in an apartment that is mostly medium pile carpet. In my experience vacuums that have rollers with combination rubber and bristles do better at combing pet hair out of carpet fibers than ones with all rubber rollers. A lot of reviewers do pet hair tests by scattering small clumps or individual strands of hair on top of carpet and that's not the whole story in real life. The hairs work their way down into the carpet and it takes aggressive agitation and strong suction to get them out. If carpet performance is paramount, get the Dyson Visnav or if you don't mind used, the Roomba S9+. Older Roombas that bounce around randomly and have the dual rollers with a separate rubber and bristle roller are also great at carpet combing. I keep a 690 around just for that reason even though I also have had newer vac and mop combo robots.

Such a shame. My old 690 is STILL kicking and on garage duty. They just don’t die. And if they do, their older designs were modular and trivial to repair. The good old days… 

I’ll match your golden and raise you a Berner. Our 690 is still going strong and runs daily to keep up with her.

Loved my roomba for a year until I realized it was slowly destroying all of my previous rugs at their corners and edges 😭

First bought iRobot 770 in 2015, worked great but died in 2020. Replaced it with roomba 692 hoping for an upgraded experience…so much disappointment; stuck constantly, poor performance, loud , etc. now it is just decorative. Not sure I’ll ever get another robot vacuum.

This prob isn’t what you want but I’m very happy with the old roombas. I have a 675 and 690 from goodwill for $20 and they both clean very well. They are very repairable and parts & filters are cheap for them from Amazon. I dunno… 1800… 1200… just so they map the place and empty themselves? Takes me 12 seconds to empty the bin after it cleans. The random navigation works really well. I’ve learned where to keep things and how to arrange the chairs / barstools so they don’t get stuck very often. I have 4 cats and every day they pick up all the fur. For mopping I have an old scooba 5900 which actually mops by sucking up the grime… something about dragging around a microfiber towel while spraying water just doesn’t seem effective to me. My house is a 1300 square foot row home though so maybe you have different needs than me.

675 or other 600 series model from a thrift store. $20. Doesn’t empty its self but if you want that you prob need to buy a new one or from someone off marketplace. Honestly emptying the bin yourself after it’s done takes 30 seconds :)

I came here to say this. Goodwill prices roombas without the base for $12 and $20 with base. I found a 675 and 690 there. Parts are available and cheap on Amazon. They work very well. Might need to check the stores regularly until you find one.

As proven by the roomba 600 series time and time again suction isn’t always the most important factor in how a robot vacuum cleans but it’s sweeping mechanism is. Suction is also a metric easily manipulated by these companies.

I’m not disagreeing with your experience, but I’ve been on my current Roomba for like 5 years with no issues.

I have 2 older roombas and 1 bissel that’s also a mop. Just basic roomba do great with daily upkeep and great with hair- but it’s dependent on layout of your home. Roomba get stuck and can’t go over any door thresholds. You’ll still need to map/vacuum weekly tho [link to the old roombas in your budget](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08SP5GYJP?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title)

I have a roomba and love it. I’m always surprised when I empty the bin. It picks up so much dust!

I have the iRobot kind that has the base it dumps into until the base fills up! That’s the way to go I think, otherwise you have to clean out the robot every 15 minutes when it gets full. It’s very obvious in our house when the roomba is out of commission; it needed one of the brushes replaced and our house was covered after a few days of not using it (golden retriever). Main downside is it’s not that great at any kind of carpet or rug, I still have to go in and carpet brush the rug every so often to get the hair out.